[petelanger]

Those were Nov 3rd and 4th so still accessible. We can only go back 6 weeks without saved links.

[petelanger]

Welcome @Dick43

You won’t be able to go directly to those songs through the TAC site. It is possible to favorite the challenges and make them available throughout the year but normally we only have today’s challenge and all the challenges up to 6 weeks in the past. Beyond that is officially out of reach. Those songs are bench mark songs. 2 out of the 4, the other 2 are “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Hotel California”

We have a bench mark song every month and since there are 4 bench mark songs they rotate through and consequently repeated 3 times per year. “Old Man” will be coming up this month, the week after next. But “Wagon Wheel” will be coming around in February, with “Ain’t No Sunshine” in January.

[petelanger]

@tommccann

Yes @BarbaraM the challenges come back around at least 1x per year but many of the skills in different lessons are reintroduced much sooner so you are getting 5-10 reps per year, if not more!

[petelanger]

@jumpinjeff congrats on the steadfastness of your guitar journey! Slow and steady wins the race! Thank-you for the influence you have had on me over the year and a half that I’ve been on TAC. I intend to pay it forward as I stay the course here and achieve my guitar goals.

[petelanger]

@grizzdog55gmail-com

I struggled with the C and D as well, in fact the D chord still can give me a bit of trouble especially when transitioning from a G to the D the fingers tend to get in the way of each other and it’s easy to not have good placement. All these kinds of things will gradually get better, it’s going to take time. In my case it was many months, I imagine a younger person who devotes many hours per day to it might cut that time down.

[petelanger]

@barbandjim24gmail-com also, if you have worked a carpenter’s hammer you understand that tapping it is not very effective. You need to drive nails by hitting them with significant velocity. On the guitar you hammer-ons will ring much more fully if you come down quickly on the string. A soft tap will not produce any sound. @jorgemac did mention to press it quickly but I thought giving you the visual of literally hammering might hit on the nail for you.

[petelanger]

I really want to try out a nylon string guitar. My understanding is that is one of the signature features of a classical guitar, I’m sure there are others.

I can’t justify the expense right now, especially not until I’m done with dental procedures. And we have so many things we would like to do with our house in terms of improvements, plus tree trimming on our wooded property is on the horizon.

How much does one have to spend for a decent classical guitar? I’m talking low end but not worthless.

[petelanger]

Thanks everyone for their input, keeping this favorited for when I’m ready to buy.

[petelanger]

Muting is the opposite of strength, actually. Just a gentle touch is all it takes. There are lots of ways you can mute, but you have to make it work for the song and within your individual technique.

Here’s the way I do it. I only worry about muting the top 3-4 strings: I just release the chord and keep the chord shape (except for typically touching the low E with my middle finger and I don’t stretch it out like Tony does in the video. That’s not working for me). Then I make sure not to hit the B or high E with my strum, because I’m not muting them. I’m only striking the top 2-3 strings.

I play the whole riff very loosey-goosey. I know they’re called power chords but when I don’t introduce a lot of strength, it’s been working way better for me.

[petelanger]

That’s completely at your discretion, if your having fun doing one “lesson” per day, that’s great but if you would like to do more, by all means. Some people here have gone through the 30 days in just a few days. You can complete it any way you like. You will have to wait about 30 days from sign up before the daily challenges become available, but there’s the 5 Day Routine and any skill course you could ask for on the table for you.

[petelanger]

Welcome back @drgbriengmail-com

Old Man starts in a little over 2 weeks, were you going to wait until then? I would recommend starting up immediately.

This week’s challenges are above average difficulty but next week is a 12 bar blues week, a perfect place to jump in!

[petelanger]

I’m not finding it slower than normal today, it’s definitely had much worse days. When I experience any type of trouble I always experiment with different browsers and devices. It actually has always run very smoothly on my linux laptop on the Firefox browser. It seems to run well on Opera whenever I have tried it. My every day go-to browser is DuckDuckGo, and it’s okay most of the time.

The TAC site has never been very snappy in the 500’ish days I’ve been on it, I would call it about average today.

Edit: I see you have 3 playing sessions so no real reference point. Yeah it’s a sluggish site and us TACers are pretty used to it.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by  petelanger.

[petelanger]

I had the very same problem with the g chord and many others as well. You just have to trust what everyone is telling you, it will get better with time. Here are just a few of the things that will change over time:
1. your fingertips get callouses which helps with holding down the string and alleviates the hurt

2. you will learn how to approach the strings, getting the palm under the neck far enough to be able to come at the fretboard at a better angle

3. you will learn how much pressure it takes. Hint: it’s a lot less than you now think!

4. you will learn to place your fingers near the fret wire so that less force is needed

5. your fingers will become stronger and more agile and you’ll develop better placement

6. you can try one of the 3 finger G chord shapes, if you are having trouble with the 4 finger variety.

The G was one of the last open chords that I was able to play cleanly, probably about months after I started playing. Don’t worry you will get those open chord shapes down as long as you don’t give up. Barre chords are whole new kettle of fish with their own challenges. I didn’t get the F mini barre down util a year after the G! Some barre chords are not so bad for me, others are very challenging, only a few are covered in the TAC challenges and Tony always provides a work around.

[petelanger]

Welcome @likalineigmail-com

I am not sure that I understand your question (if it is a question). Are you saying you don’t like the appearance of the site? Perhaps the videos aren’t displaying how you would like, but then you aren’t able to “follow anything by looking at somebody’s fingers”. So perhaps the appearance is not a problem? Help me I am just confused and don’t know how to help you!

[petelanger]

Yes that is true @jorgemac , if you use the 4 finger g then the ring finger can anchor both the G and D chords. But if the progression is C => G => D, I’ll often use the 3 finger G where my pinky is on the high E and the ring on the low E. Now it’s clumsy going to the D chord for me.

The point is: at first you are just learning to form chords but in short order you really need to be looking at transitioning from chord to chord and depending on where you come from, there are new challenges to overcome.